We're still working on the projects that the kitchen remodel spun off. This week, I've been working hard on the office/guest room. The remodel took out a third of the closet space in the office and all of the closet space in the adjacent laundry room, which has since sent a ripple effect throughout all of our storage spaces. The kitchen has more storage than ever, but the stuff you store in the office (buckets of food storage, holiday decorations, board games) isn't the kind of stuff you want to store in your kitchen, y'know?
I've therefore been re-evaluating all the stuff from storage. Much has been let go...so cathartic...cleansing...a release. My mantra has become "if it's worth keeping, it's worth finding a permanent place for it." It turns out there are only a few things I really want to make a permanent home for in my home. I like clear counter tops. I like ordered cabinets. I love picking something up and knowing where to put it.
The smaller closet in the office meant we needed to buy smaller closet doors. We purchased some unfinished bi-fold doors and I attempted to stain them to match the previous doors. It was a terrible job. Absolutely hideous. I honestly did not have my heart in the task. I started with buying the wrong kind of stain, applying it before fine-sanding the wood surface, and only applying it to the sides that I thought people would "see." At one point, I had one set of doors lying on the garage floor. I left it alone too long with the boys...
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| Mass-a-yew was here! |
I might have been more angry at this discovery, except that I didn't really care about the job and I really, really love my kids' hand and foot prints.
Anyway, Bobby put up the doors today and they look ok. Just ok. Amateur job. Feel free to come out and visit us to have a look yourself :) I promise the rest of your room will have a much more polished look. Clear counters. Uncluttered bookshelves. Lovely.
Speaking of storage space, Matthew has finally discovered the octagon table.
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| How much longer will they fit together?! |
It's an end table in our living room that has a little door that opens up into a storage space underneath. I grew up with something like it, so when a friend offered me hers, I
had to have it. My parents stored piano music in theirs. I still remember the smell. I don't remember if I ever actually pulled all the books out to get in myself, but I remember always
wanting to. Alice, Robert, and James hadn't played in it for months, but one day Matthew discovered it and instinctively knew how to play in it.
Matthew has some pretty interesting ideas for play. Just the other night, he was practicing his falls. I don't know how else to describe it. He would hunch over like an old man with a cane, shuffle a step or two, then fall forward on his hands and knees, sometimes rolling to the side with a fun little "whooooaaa." Then he'd get up and do it all over again. He wasn't doing it for attention. He really was practicing. Why?! All the kids joined him, despite it being family scripture study *ahem*
And last night he was on all fours with his head down on the floor, then he crawled forward blindly until his head hit something. He looked up, laughed, turned around and went again. He actually got pretty good at avoiding obstacles. He would get really, really close to someone's leg or arm, but wouldn't actually hit it. He would just look up at you and giggle with his scrunched nose and pebble tooth grin. Robert soon joined him. No words. He just got down and started doing it, too. Matthew thought it was the best! Robert had the biggest grin on his face. I marvel at moments like these when Robert and Matthew are worlds apart in development and understanding, but they still meet somewhere and both are enriched by the interaction. Robert will play with Matthew when Alice would rather teach/mother him and James would rather compete with him. It's fun to watch.
Matthew pulls out some of Robert's more gentle, nurturing side, even when Robert is teaching him how to punch and kick. It cracks me up.
Matthew is the only one of my kids to appreciate being thrown up into the air. He's also fond of the "gonna gitcha" game, but it's hard to know what he expects from the experience...sometimes he wants to chase
me, but he can't stand the idea of me running away from him. He plays it a lot better with his brothers. Especially Robert.
Alice and Robert attended "
Invention Camp" last week. They both loved it. Alice's favorite part was working in a team to design/plan a dream tree house. Robert's favorite part was working alone to take apart the stereo we sent with him. They did more than I can possibly write here. I would do it again in a heartbeat, and recommend it to anyone who had a chance to go.
Did I tell you that
Alice is taking flute lessons now? She loves it. I have no idea if she's good at it, but she seems to be able to make the notes come out clearly most of the time. I asked her to keep taking piano lessons as well, for several reasons, and she's happier in piano now than she's ever been. Maybe it's more fun now that she's had a 9-month break (FitKids last year). Or maybe the flute and piano experiences are playing off of each other somehow. Or maybe now that Robert is taking lessons, too, it's more of a community thing? Don't know. Alice has recently become much better friends with the 9-year-old girl on our cul-de-sac who moved in last year. She's been a lifesaver this summer for Alice's social happiness. Alice has been taking on more responsibility at home, too. She does it almost without thinking. If Matthew's clinging to my knees while I'm making dinner, she'll peel him off and read a book to him. Crazy, huh?! Or she'll see something else that needs to be done and just do it. Not chores, but other really helpful things like buckling in little brothers or splitting up snacks or retrieving a sippy cup.
I enjoyed more time with
James while Alice and Robert were at Invention Camp. He's a totally different fellow without those two around. He helped me with chores, played on his own, looked at books, constantly asked for popsicles and screen time (yeah right, kid!), and was generally content to go through the day at whatever pace suited us. I found more patience with him, too. No, it's not really patience I found...I found a kinder voice. My life is a lot less stressful now that the kitchen is fully functional (counter tops arrived!). With the two older kids at Invention Camp, I could count on a regular quiet time that was
actually quiet. Even when I was upset about one of James' choices that week, I could manage the situation without losing my cool. He's been filling the toilet with toilet paper recently: unrolling a whole roll and piling it into the bowl on top of whatever excrement he just put in there. No joke. Absolutely disgusting. Unflushable. He's done it several times now! Well, this week, I managed to keep a genuinely kind voice while working with him on the consequences of his choice. Also, when he plays a little rough or rudely with me (he's got this thing for putting his hand in my face, sometimes
on my face) I've been able to let him know plainly, but without sharpness, that it bothers or hurts me. Then he genuinely apologizes. Robert is really sensitive to a sharp tone, too. If I can manage to state the facts in a plain way, with casual tones instead of sharp ones, he draws the correct conclusion on his own and corrects his behavior willingly. Usually. We all have off days ;)
And then there's
Robert. So in tune, and yet it's hard to get his attention sometimes. He and Alice play together constantly. His piano lessons have been progressing well. He understands meter and counting better than Alice ever has (Alice prefers to play by ear, not by reading the music). Robert fiddles around on the piano with repetitive patterns and tunes, often created out of symmetrical fingering. His teacher has him doing major and minor pentascales (just the first 5 notes up and then down) and Robert can pick out the minor by ear...no one had to tell him the "trick" for figuring it out. By the end of the week, when he's bored of the 3-4 little songs he's had to practice, he sometimes asks to play them backwards. It's slow, but pure sight reading...accurate, too. He gets a big grin on his face. Swim lessons challenge him. He's finally figured out the dog paddle, but jumping into the deep end is his next major hurdle. He's been getting a little more courageous in public speaking. A few weeks ago, he was asked to select a scripture for Primary and read it in front of all the kids and teachers. He hesitated in the beginning, but got through it to the end. First time I've ever witnessed that miracle! He says he likes having me as his Primary teacher. I wonder how long that will last :)
Somehow this week, I've just been feeling like, "Man! We're so lucky to have these exact kids in our family!" I've said it out loud, too, and the kids get big smiles on their faces. I feel like we have a moment to breathe right now...just enjoying the way things are and who these people are.
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